I was looking to take some video of the pigs grazing on the spring grass, and didn't really notice until after I had taken a few shots that the neighbors dog was barking nearly continuously. Take a look at this video for an example
raw footage pigs grazing 1 from bruce king on Vimeo.
Don't get me wrong, I like dogs but the constant barking by the neighbors dogs for the last 4 months has really gotten annoying
raw footage pigs grazing 2 from bruce king on Vimeo.
I finally went over and talked to her. She and her husband had chosen a working breed of dog; this is a dog that was bred for herding and livestock handling, and neither of their dogs has a job; so, like most hardworking breeds, they've chosen their job. And in this case it's to bark at me. If I step out my front door they bark continuously until I go back in. Hours and hours. While I can ignore it, the livestock doesn't. Recently the two dogs have started coming under the fence and chasing the pigs around, which really bothers me.
raw footage pigs grazing 3 from bruce king on Vimeo.
When i first moved in here, the neighbors has issues with my dogs crossing the road or being off my property; and they complained about it, and so I put up a fence and worked with my dogs to stay pretty close. But my dogs have a job, and I work with them every day; these two dogs really don't have anyone working with them, and as a result they're getting some bad habits; chasing the cars down the street and attacking the tires, and 24 hour a day barking.
I finally offered the neighbor a pair of no-bark collars that I have; I'll lend them to her and see if we can curb the barking, but the livestock chasing has got to stop, too. If I had a cow with a calf out there I don't want her chased around.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy all of your posts, & your videos. I loved the video of the sow 'singing' to
her piglets. I found it quite touching & shared it with my city friends. It's impressive how clean and organized your farm is. Yes, I'm the one interested in one of your pups. I will call next week. Have a lovely & blessings filled Easter Day.
Sincerely, Saundra Loman
At my kids' bus stop, there is a house with a pair of airdales. They bark constantly at us while we are waiting. My 4 year-old son started running back and forth along the fenceline to get them to follow hime. That annoyed the owner because the dogs barked while he did that and they were "trying to train them not to bark." I had to try really, really hard not to respond sarcastically.
ReplyDeletesaundra: thanks for the kind words.
ReplyDeleteBill: I've got airedales (I think there's 15 of them on my farm right now; a litter of 8 pups and 7 adults, and it's pretty hard to discourage them from chasing things that run and make noise; but the constant barking is a problem sometimes, too. For problem dogs of mine where I'm not around to directly supervise, a no-bark collar works the best of all solutions. I'll hang it on the dog and after a couple of hours they figure it out, and seem to get the message that random barking doesn't fly around here. It's a lot quieter since I started doing that.
ReplyDeleteI lent one of my collars for the neighbors dog and I'm enjoying the quiet right now.